VietNamNet Bridge – The owner of an iron ore mine in the highlands of northern Cao Bang Province is struggling to remove debris left after a tailings dam was destroyed in a landslide more than a month ago.


Workers clear debris left after a tailings dam was destroyed in a landslide one month ago in Duyet Trung Commune in northern Cao Bang Province. (Photo: VNS)
The 8-kilometre-road through the Na Chua stream to the Cao Bang Minerals and Metallurgy Company's Na Lung mine was still inundated with sludge yesterday, Dec 15.


Duyet Trung Commune resident Be Thi Hong Van said the road - the only link with other communes - was covered in the mud spilled from trucks carrying the debris.


"We have been living with mud and dust," she complained.


"On dry days, the road is filled with dust that could make it unsafe.


"Now we are worried about possible accidents on the slippery road; some people have already fallen off their motorbikes."


And some households had been unable to start planting their winter-spring crop because their paddy fields were under mud.


Company deputy director Dam Trung Ky said 250 workers, three excavators and eight trucks were working from morning till 10pm everyday to remove the mud.


About 6,000 to 7,000 cubic metres of mud and water, or about 40 per cent of the tailings had been returned to the mine.


But his company would be pressed to finish the work before the Provincial People's Committee's deadline - the end of the month.


The sludge in the stream and paddy fields was about equal in some places making its removal more difficult.

Water flowing downstream stopped the mud from drying.


The company has bought Ma Thi Bach's house - the most heavily damaged in Na Keo Hamlet - to temporarily store the mud before it goes to the mine.


Four other households forced to evacuate were paid VND1 million (US$50) each.


Deputy director Ky said the refusal of some residents to rent land for the building of a road has made it impossible to transport excavators to the stream.


"We have used all of our trucks and excavators for the work," he said.


But excavators could not be hired because their owners thought the mud would harm their machines.


Cao Bang Minerals and Metallurgy Company has been fined VND100 million (US$5,000) and ordered to repair the damage.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News